Steel for your project

Order our steel products online and discover their many uses. Steel’s properties make it the ideal material for lots of projects.

materials4me – your one-stop online shop for steel products

There are more than 2,500 steel grades, all of them alloys of iron, carbon and other elements. Structural steel, free-machining steel, bright steel… the terms can be confusing.

Basically steel can be divided into two groups: unalloyed and alloy steels. Structural steels can be plain unalloyed or low-alloy and are classified in various European standards (EN) according to properties and uses.

Free-machining steels contain a large amount of sulfur and are known for their good machinability. Bright steel doesn’t describe the grade, only the finish.

How steel is made

Steel is made from pig iron. Depending on the production method it also contains other additives. The resultant steel for further processing has iron as its main constituent. In this condition the material is prone to rust. This is due to the carbon content, which decreases with further heating. The carbon content has a major influence on the properties of steel grades, such as strength.

Viewed

Subscribe to our Newsletter!
Sign up for the newsletter and receive a £10 discount on your next order.